“Hap and Leonard” Premiere Date Announced

SundanceTV announced at the Television Critics’ Association (TCA) Press Tour the premiere dates for its spring 2016 programming slate, designating Wednesdays at 10/9c as the network’s yearlong destination for original programming.

“Coming off a year in which SundanceTV was the fastest-growing entertainment network in adults 25-54, we could not be more excited about the quantity and quality we are bringing viewers in 2016,” said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV. “All of our new shows fit the network’s signature brand of unique storytelling, and together will make Wednesday night the new destination for SundanceTV originals.

HAP AND LEONARDHAP AND LEONARD, featuring James Purefoy (Rome, The Following), Michael Kenneth Williams (The Wire,Boardwalk Empire) and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), will premiere Wed., Mar. 2 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. Set in the late 1980s, HAP AND LEONARD is a darkly comic swamp noir story of two best friends, one femme fatale, a crew of washed-up revolutionaries, a pair of murderous psycho-killers, some lost loot and the fuzz. Based on the novels by Joe Lansdale, the six-hour series event follows Hap Collins (Purefoy), an East Texas white boy with a weakness for Southern women, and Leonard Pine (Williams), a gay, black Vietnam vet with a hot temper. When Hap’s seductive ex-wife Trudy (Hendricks) resurfaces with a deal they can’t refuse, a simple get-rich-quick scheme snowballs into bloody mayhem. Chock full of eccentric characters, HAP AND LEONARD provides a country twist on the classic mystery thriller.

Produced by AMC Studios, the six-episode event series was developed by director/writer Jim Mickle (Cold in July, We Are What We Are and Stakeland) and writer Nick Damici (Cold in July, We Are What We Are and Stakeland). The project is executive produced by Jim Mickle, Nick Damici, Jeremy Platt and Nick Shumaker, along with co-executive producers Joe Lansdale, Linda Moran and Lowell Northrop. This project marks Mickle’s and Damici’s second major collaboration with Lansdale, as the pair previously collaborated on the film adaptation of Lansdale’s novel Cold in July, which was selected to premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Additional HAP AND LEONARD cast members include Jimmi Simpson (“House of Cards”), Bill Sage (American Psycho), Pollyanna McIntosh, Neil Sandilands and Jeff Pope.

“It’s been a blast working with the great Joe Lansdale again to bring more of his iconic characters to the screen,” said director, writer and executive producer Jim Mickle. “Hap and Leonard demanded their own show, and we gave it to them. SundanceTV is the perfect home for our boys and everyone we’ve come to love in their unique universe. After premiering Cold in July at the Sundance Film Festival and now expanding to something equally one-of-a-kind on SundanceTV, it feels like we’ve come deliciously full circle.”